Bear Down Wildcats

Arizona leads UCLA after 1st, 19-18 in spite of being out-rebounded 14-4

UCLA leads 33-31 @ half; out-rebounding the Cats 25-11!

UCLA 8 TO’s, Cats 1

We can't shoot very well.

We're literally playing our worst basketball of the year the past few games and today. At this rate we'll be one and done in the big dance.

UCLA 55-43 after three

We suck tbh. Can anyone shoot on this team?

EastCoastCat wrote: ↑Thu Mar 02, 2023 2:43 pm We suck tbh. Can anyone shoot on this team?

Nothing quite like an Arizona fan who has absolutely no sense of the meaning of “Bear Down”!

Why don’t you just change the channel and reduce your emotional distress?

Final UCLA 73, Cats 59

just not our day.

Let’s go play some non-Pac 12 teams!!

This team has tanked at the end of the season 2 years in a row

March Sadness

pc in NM wrote: ↑Thu Mar 02, 2023 2:52 pm

EastCoastCat wrote: ↑Thu Mar 02, 2023 2:43 pm We suck tbh. Can anyone shoot on this team?

Nothing quite like an Arizona fan who has absolutely no sense of the meaning of “Bear Down”!

Why don’t you just change the channel and reduce your emotional distress?

I’m sorry if an honest assessment gets your panties in a wad. And I also didn’t realize that Bear Down means looking the other way. That’s good to know so thanks.

Btw, I didn’t have to change the channel. I just turned that awful performance off.

The last 3 games this team has looked like total shit. It is what it is.

I’ve gotta get something off my chest. I appreciate that UofA has a very competitive women’s basketball program compared to what it was for years. I appreciate we had a squad who caught fire during a recent NCAA tournament. That said, from the outside, there appears to be something wrong with the culture in the program right now. The team was somewhat retooled after last season with the inference that there was a problem with a few players not buying into the system. We now have heard Adia say she can teach defense, but can’t teach a player to be great at offense. I’ve now heard players coming off the court bad mouthing their physically (and possibly mentally) distant coach. If you read Adia’s comments from yesterday, she put the blame on the players…that they were given the system to win, but didn’t execute.

I’m not sure what to make of it all, but I’ve got this lingering feeling that Adia is a better recruiter than she is a coach. You hear TL basically saying he doesn’t want to call a bunch of plays during a game, but let the players do what they’ve practiced. Meanwhile, Adia micromanages from the sidelines during a game, but is too aloof to be out on the court for warm ups.

I want to believe this next recruiting class will revert to the FF year, but I’m starting to think that event was a major aberration due to one or two great recruits.

Feel free to crush me or talk me out of this bad feeling, but I think Adia might need to rethink some strategies. Aari ain’t walking out of that locker room as a player again.

I think you bring up some very valid points. I've heard others compare Adia to Miller and I think that's a very fair comparison. While Miller and Adia are both successful coaches, while at Arizona, they both have/had that micromanaging problem. It feels like we're seeing a similar type of trend with the women that the men had where they just can't get over that hump to the next level, and their end of seasons are disappointing.

Thankfully Adia has the luxury of not being under the type of pressure mens basketball is, but that doesn't mean she should just keep doing things like she has been. Even if we do move out of the highly competitive Pac 12 Adia still needs to be able to beat the Stanfords out there to get to the level we all know we're capable of.

I'd like to point out that UCLA beat Stanford last nite, dominating the fourth quarter 29-15. And Stanford was playing well! UCLA is a very talented, young team, and their top-rated frosh recruits are coming around at exactly the right time.

It might be wise to consider that the loss to UCLA was more about their talent than Arizona's shortcomings.

Our own frosh are also developing well, just not quite as quickly. But I look forward to their returning as sophs!!! This year's team has shot the ball inconsistently, and often rallied on exceptional defensive play - well-coached defensive play, BTW!!!

And, we'd all do well to recognize that our Final Four team had it's own ups-and-downs, not to mention that it was lead by a generational talent (Aari)!!

We did come in fourth in the best conference in the country, and, honestly, there's no shame in that!

Cate is having a big game, along with Martinez. Cats up 16 in the 4th.

THEY were prepared to play.

Cats beat West Virginia 75-62. Most likely will play Maryland and former Cat Brenda Frese on Sunday unless Holy Cross gets the big upset.

It would take a miracle to beat this Maryland team that has beat UCONN, Iowa and Notre Dame this year.

But we know what can happen on any given day...

This is about as bad a start as we could have.

Holy crap what a comeback! We have the lead!

Great comeback, keep it going.

Sigh.

Going to miss our seniors. Cate especially really helped changed the program when we were just an afterthought.

AZCatGirl wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 4:37 pm Going to miss our seniors. Cate especially really helped changed the program when we were just an afterthought.

Wow Stanford just lost at home. Haven't not made the sweet 16 since 2007.

AZCatGirl wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 8:53 pm Wow Stanford just lost at home. Haven't not made the sweet 16 since 2007.

First, this can't be true. The fabulous Pac-12 media geniuses were tweeting out highlights of Cameron Brink and Haley Jones all over the place. I wonder if Haley demonstrated her little fake mean girl smile after the loss. I mean, everything's always so adorably cute and amusing to her. Not to wish ill on anyone, but sometimes a little adversity in life can build some needed character. And a minor knee injury freshman year ain't it. Ah, well. I'm an Arizona fan and I rarely root for other league teams in anything.

Second, the NCAA really needs to re-think this home court thing. It's ridiculous. The schools write the NCAA a check, then sell as many tickets as they can to offset some of the cost. They're buying success. I saw all of those seats masquerading as fans at a small Stanford arena. In total, it's an inconsequential couple of mil to the NCAA, rather than having fair neutral courts. Time for women's hoops to grow up in that regard.

TheCatInTheHat wrote: ↑Mon Mar 20, 2023 4:39 pm

AZCatGirl wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 8:53 pm Wow Stanford just lost at home. Haven't not made the sweet 16 since 2007.

First, this can't be true. The fabulous Pac-12 media geniuses were tweeting out highlights of Cameron Brink and Haley Jones all over the place. I wonder if Haley demonstrated her little fake mean girl smile after the loss. I mean, everything's always so adorably cute and amusing to her. Not to wish ill on anyone, but sometimes a little adversity in life can build some needed character. And a minor knee injury freshman year ain't it. Ah, well. I'm an Arizona fan and I rarely root for other league teams in anything.

Second, the NCAA really needs to re-think this home court thing. It's ridiculous. The schools write the NCAA a check, then sell as many tickets as they can to offset some of the cost. They're buying success. I saw all of those seats masquerading as fans at a small Stanford arena. In total, it's an inconsequential couple of mil to the NCAA, rather than having fair neutral courts. Time for women's hoops to grow up in that regard.

All partisanship aside, I’ve thought Jones was one helluva collegiate player - I really admire her game!

Vonleh just played an integral part in getting Colorado over Duke in OT to go to the Sweet 16. Not sure why Adia couldn’t keep that horse in the barn, but UofA sure could have used a player like her this year. Congrats Aaronette!

Truly baffling what Arizona did to Colorado and Utah the second to last week of the season compared to how they screwed the pooch the next week in Oregon. Well, except we didn’t have any power inside…

It looked to me like there were a few issues with team chemistry this season, maybe not as bad as last season with all the house cleaning, but still a bit problematic. A couple of curious things in the stats down the stretch, and I don't see how multiple players can let opponents just blow past them one-on-one so consistently. But I'm sure if there's anything, it'll stay in the locker room. Whether it's men's or women's teams, it's hard to get the all-out commitment from everybody necessary to be better than about a top 30 team. Not everybody's T.J. McConnell. I agree that Vonleh was a significant loss, but that's part of the fun with the transfer portal.

This is on player behavior. Trash-talking, gesturing, and the other crap have been ridiculous in the men's game for years. Unfortunately, it seems like the growth of the women's game means some of that garbage comes along for the ride. I love Cate Reese for her level of effort, for overcoming Type 1 diabetes, and for overcoming the various injuries she's dealt with. I've got no problem with the football bellowing and pounding on shoulder pads to get the adrenaline flowing. Maybe somebody doesn't like how she sometimes stomps around, but I think that's fine, for the same reason. I take exception to self-obsession attention mongering (like 20 extra pounds of hair as some personal signature), but even more the opponent deprecating stuff. Sadly, the worst offenders seem to be some of the best players who are bound for the WNBA. We saw it with Sabrina Ionescu at Oregon, and a bit with Diamond Miller at Maryland this past weekend. It has zero to do with acknowledging their ability; it's that the petty crap doesn't contribute a thing. Louisville has a nice player in Hailey van Lith, and the Cardinals won in Austin at Texas, which has a player named Sonya Morris. In the handshake line, Morris wouldn't let go of van Lith's hand until she could say "honorable mention", which was supposed to be a dis on van Lith for "only" making honorable mention all-America. Stupid, petty, and a poor representative for the Longhorns. Van Lith, on the other hand, pushed aside, kept going, and shrugged it off in the post-game interview. It's not that hard to just focus on your team and play.

Didn't the loss of Ware really hurt this team for a variety of reasons?

EastCoastCat wrote: ↑Tue Mar 21, 2023 1:16 pm Didn't the loss of Ware really hurt this team for a variety of reasons?

Arizona would have been crowded in the frontcourt, and I believe Vonleh (before the visible improvement) was low on the depth chart - Sadly, Ware became injured, and Arizona was suddenly thin on the frontline.

If only….

OTOH, that probably resulted in more PT for Nnaji, who is developing nicely, and should be a lot better next year.

I actually hoped for a little more from Nnaji, especially after the Ware injury and Vonleh leaving. 4.4/3.2 is an okay start, but she had some pretty big recruiting credentials. By comparison, Cate was 11.8/6.8 her freshman year. Maya's in serious pre-med, and no argument from me about where the priorities should lie. My extremely driven niece is in pre-med, and it's no cake-walk. We'll see where this all eventually leads in terms of how well Maya can cope with balancing extreme athletics with extreme academics.

Looks like Adia has more off season work to do. Curious who else is leaving.

Buckle up

These constant transfers are getting worrisome...

AZCatGirl wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 7:44 pm These constant transfers are getting worrisome...

It was “worrisome” last year. This news is alarming!

pc in NM wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 8:36 pm

AZCatGirl wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 7:44 pm These constant transfers are getting worrisome...

It was “worrisome” last year. This news is alarming!

Madi is not a surprise. Her dad was done after the away game at Utah and stated as much on the women’s Facebook fanboard (which I was basically asked to leave for having the temerity to question Adia’s coaching style.) Paris, not surprising considering a much lesser player took time she should have had. Hylton never got a real chance. Ware? Lauren fucking Ware? This is a crossing of the Rubicon for me. This is not just alarming, this shows you who Adia really is…The benefactor of a once in a lifetime player. Good thing Mary Hansen isn’t on this board, I’d have to duck her thrown stones all night and most of the day tomorrow.

Looks like the honeymoon is over. You have to be concerned with all these players leaving the past few years. Maybe what Yeaney tweeted last year was true. Will Adia make some changes on how she is running the program? Going to be a busy offseason.

Irish27 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:35 pm Looks like the honeymoon is over. You have to be concerned with all these players leaving the past few years. Maybe what Yeaney tweeted last year was true. Will Adia make some changes on how she is running the program? Going to be a busy offseason.

What did she tweet last year? I don't recall, but I'd probably look at her words in a new light after today.

What the fuck is going on??!!

AZCatGirl wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 10:24 pm

Irish27 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 9:35 pm Looks like the honeymoon is over. You have to be concerned with all these players leaving the past few years. Maybe what Yeaney tweeted last year was true. Will Adia make some changes on how she is running the program? Going to be a busy offseason.

What did she tweet last year? I don't recall, but I'd probably look at her words in a new light after today.

She tweeted “You can’t trust everyone that’s my biggest lesson learned” the day before her transfer but then also said the tweet had nothing to do with basketball.

Finally some good news

84Cat wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 9:07 am Finally some good news

I am glad to see this. Skaggs did the same thing when Palacios and Meono transferred to UCLA after last season.

Other than the understandable "oh, no" reaction, I've got a couple of different thoughts. As I said earlier, it looked like some chemistry problems on the team again this year. Adia may well be a Sean Miller recruiter/micro-manager; just note that there are a couple of different camps on CSM. Personally, I think Adia is ruthless about winning. Some may not like that word. Part of that is you may come off as two-faced when you're very sweet and motherly during recruiting, but then demand much and if things aren't working out as well as you'd like with one of your "kids", sometimes suggest they'd be happier elsewhere. When you're told during recruitment that "I could see you starting for us down the road", then a kid gets in the doghouse and sits on the bench, they feel betrayed. And coming out of high school, everybody's great and everybody wants to start. I know we all would be most comfortable with what appears like a loving family atmosphere. But when I look at many other top programs, they players certainly celebrate when they win, but the coaches sure look like it's a pretty cutthroat business on the sidelines. I had a starting lineup next year of Fields, Pueyo, and Martinez (who's apparently returning), with Ware at center (if recovered and effective after the knee surgery), and either Gilbert or incoming freshman Jada Williams at PG. If Ware wasn't up to it, it would be Nnaji, and now that figures to be the case, prior to any transfers in. Don't know the issues with Madi, but I had her first guard off the bench, recognizing she's a defensive liability in many matchups and probably never projects to start. Paris Clark was in a numbers game with Gilbert and Williams, but certainly a valuable piece if she was willing to accept whatever role she was assigned. I never really saw Hylton doing much. At this moment, prior to any transfers in, it sucks as it looks like another step backward. But we don't have a finished product to judge yet. And the bloom is somewhat off the rose as some aspects of the program are more apparent. Anyway, regardless of our thoughts from the outside looking in...it is what it is.

84Cat wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 9:07 am Finally some good news

And one more!

I just saw on Twitter that Helena Pueyo will return for fifth season!!

GOOD NEWS!!